I think the best biography of Padre Pio is by Bernard Ruffin–a Lutheran. What struck me in reading the biography was that the saint used to put on weight while fasting. I exclaimed, “Why that’s just like me! I’m always putting on weight while eating next to nothing. I mean it was only two chocolate bars, a cheeseburger a donut and a bag of chips…. Seriously, what really did hit me between the eyes was the fact that he was... Read more

The Holy Father is going to visit Britain next Spring. I hope he will beatify Cardinal Newman during the visit. In Oxford. In St Giles. Read about it here. I have a feeling the Vicar may have something to day about this… Read more

I first read P.D.James’ dystopia novel when it came out some years ago, but only got around to watching Children of Men over the weekend. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, it is set in Britain in 2027 when the human race has been infertile for eighteen years. James, (who is a committed conservative Anglican) elaborates on the direction of a human race that cannot have children, and so sheds light on the current culture of death in... Read more

I am certainly sorry not to have been blogging very much recently, but on Friday I travelled to Vandalia, Illinois to conduct a retreat on Healing the Family Tree (more on that intriguing subject shortly when I have the time) with my friend John LaBriola. I first met John at EWTN when he and I were both there to film some shows at the same time. Then we met up again quite by chance to lead a retreat in Vandalia... Read more

The relics of St Therese are on a tour of Britain this week. Christopher Howse (a solid Catholic journalist in England) writes about it here. Read more

The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple The Flight into Egypt Jesus Lost in Jerusalem Meeting her son on the Via Dolorosa The Crucifixion The Descent from the Cross The Burial of Christ As converts, there are some Catholic things that take longer for us to ‘get’. Our Sorrowful Mother is one of them. Protestantism (especially the American form) isn’t too strong on a theology of suffering. American optimism and the constant push for... Read more

It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree born aloft, wound round by light, brightest of beams. All was that beacon sprinkled with gold. Gems stood fair at earth’s corners; there likewise five shone on the shoulder-span. All there beheld the Angel of God fair through predestiny. Indeed, that was no wicked one’s gallows, but holy souls beheld it there, men over earth, and all this great creation. Wondrous that victory-beam–and I stained with sins, with wounds of disgrace.... Read more

The cross is called Christ’s glory; it is saluted as his his triumph. We recognise it as the cup he longed to drink and the climax of the sufferings he endured for our sake. As to the cross being Christ’s glory, listen to his words: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified, and God will glorify him at once. And again: Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world... Read more

When I lived in England the Brits used to like to make fun of the typical Yank tourist. Earl would a portly fellow in his fifties, wearing dark knee socks, sandals, bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian beach shirt. With a pork pie hat and three cameras around his neck, he’d be puffing on a big cigar. His wife, Shirley, would have blue hair, dangling earrings, wear a polyester pantsuit, have a pretty large caboose and step off the tourist bus... Read more